


Artanis’s Letter

by Talullah



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 22:57:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9570590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talullah/pseuds/Talullah
Summary: Nienna and her student, Artanis, talk about family matters.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the LotR community challenge for November 2016 with the theme "nostalgia" and element "remind (-ed; -ing)". Finished for the January 2017 Potluck.

“Artanis,” Nienna called. Her student turned, startled, blushing fiercely. Both knew Artanis had let her thoughts ungarded again.

Nienna smiled her sad smile. “Child, no need to blush that way. You are still learning.”

Artanis bowed her head. “My lady, it is not that I have failed to keep the girdle up. It is what…”

“What you were thinking,” Nienna concluded. She sat by Artanis’s side, contemplating the letter in her hand that had distracted her so from her training.

“News from home?”

“Yes, Lady Nienna. Uncle Fëanaro’s twins were born last week, as you know. My father gently reminds me that I am required to attend the ceremonies.”

“You should go, then,” Nienna quietly stated. “I will still be here when you are ready to return.”

Artanis bowed her head. “I do not want to go,” she sighed. “There was a time when we were all friends, the cousins, despite the contempt Fëanaro amply showers unto my father and my uncle Fingolfin. But now…

“Now you have all grown up,” Nienna completed. “You do not feel close to them anymore.”

“And I hate it,” Artanis said, “but even with Makalaurë, to whom I was once closest, there seems to be a wall…”

“All the more reason to go. Be there.”

Artanis looked into her teacher’s eyes. Nienna, as usual, was telling her something without speaking the words. She squinted, as if that would help her read her teacher’s thoughts.

“I can hear you thinking,” Nienna playfully chided. “You are very loud.”

Artanis smiled reluctantly.

“I cannot reveal you the future, because it is made of many threads and not all may unravel. But go; build bridges where you can,” Nienna advised, tucking a lock of hair behind Artanis’s ear.

Artanis nodded. She felt, more than understood. She would go.

Finis  
January 2017


End file.
